Avoid cold-dampness pathogens
Symptoms when dampness pathogen is encumbering the body
When dampness is retained on the skin, people may feel they have a heavy head and dizziness as if the head is wrapped with something, in addition, the body is sore, and limbs are heavy.
When dampness invades channels and collaterals, yang qi is obstructed, causing heavy joints with pain, swelling and numbness.
When dampness is retained in the chest and rib-side, people may feel chest tightness and discomfort.
When dampness is retained in the spleen and stomach, there will be symptoms including chest tightness and discomfort of gastric duct, poor appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, and sticky stool.
When dampness is retained in the lower Jiao, people may present with short and difficult urination.
People who are easily affected by dampness usually dislike drinking water and eating fruits.
When taking outdoor activities in summer, it is easy to sweat; and if we then enter a low temperature, air-conditioned room directly at this time, pathogenic cold and wind will easily invade the skin, sinews, vessels, and bones as the pores (interstices) are open now. If the cold pathogen is not dispelled out in time, it will progress to invade the five viscera and six bowels, further depleting the yang qi of the viscera and bowels and causing various diseases.
How to avoid pathogenic dampness
1. Avoid excessive thinking. Excessive thinking damages the spleen, and when the qi is weak, the spleen may fail to transport and transform the water and grain.
2. Maintain a reasonable diet and avoid “illness that comes in from the mouth” (diseases due to poor or inappropriate diet). The behaviors of having cold dishes and drinks, choosing greasy and salty food, and taking too much fruit as a meal replacement, all may aggravate the dampness in the body.
Recommended Formula: White Hyacinth Bean and Coix Seed Porridge
Ingredients: White Hyacinth Bean (Bái Biăn Dòu, Semen Lablab Album) 30 g, Coix Seed (Yì Yĭ Rén, Semen Coicis) 30 g, rice 100 g
Steps: Soak the Semen Lablab Album and fried Semen Coicis in cold water for 2 hours, then boil it together with rice until the Semen Coicis is soft. Eat one bowl each for breakfast and dinner.
Notes: Boil the Semen Coicis until it is soft, otherwise it may cause stomach pain and distention. Semen Coicis (raw) coix Seed clears damp-heat, and is used to treat various skin disorders due to damp-heat patterns.
3. Exercise to help transport and transform the dampness retention in the body.
4. Drink water the appropriate way. “Eight cups of water each day” is not a golden standard, as the needs of water vary among individuals; excessive water ingestion increases the burden on the intestines and stomach, and furthermore aggravates the pathogenic dampness. Drink water when the body needs it and when you feel thirsty. Drink a small amount of water each time, as slowly as possible, and drinking warm, boiled water.
5. Health care with acupoints. Select the two acupoints Fenglong (ST 40) and Chengshan (BL 57). ST 40 is located at about 8 cun above the lateral malleolus point at the anterior and lateral of the legs; and BL 57 is located below the highest point of the calf muscle in the middle. ST 40 is on the the foot Yangming stomach channel and is mainly used to dispel phlegm, while BL 57 is on the foot Taiyang bladder channel and is mainly used to eliminate dampness. Press and knead the two acupoints with the thumb for 3 to 5 minutes each day, and this can help to forty the spleen, harmonize the stomach, dispel phlegm and eliminate dampness.
